Pete Wedderburn

Pete Wedderburn qualified as a vet twenty-five years ago, and now spends half his working life writing newspaper columns. He lives in Ireland with his wife, two daughters and a menagerie of dogs, cats, poultry and other furry and feathered companions. Pete answers readers' queries about their pets' health in his video Q&A – he is also on Twitter as @petethevet and has a Facebook Fan Page.

The Crufts judges are on alert for dogs in make-up. What's next, dope testing?

Willy, a Tibetan Terrier, is shown by his handler at Crufts 2007 (Photo: PA)

This is the biggest week of the year of the show dog calendar, with Crufts starting in Birmingham on Thursday. After many years of being celebrated as a wonderful exhibition of the British pro-animal culture at its best, Crufts has been blighted by controversy in the past two years. It started last year, when major sponsors and supporters pulled out after the BBC documentary "Pedigree Dogs Exposed" highlighted apparent inaction by the Kennel Club in the face of high levels of inherited disease in some pedigree dogs.

Cosmetics may not be the worst aspect of tweaking pets' appearance so that they meet the much-prized breed standard: the Kennel Club has written to the two breed clubs responsible for Chinese Crested dogs in Britain to stress their opposition to the use of hair removal products to remove unsightly hair prior to competition. Whilst it's good to see the Kennel Club being proactive in this way, can their their action also be taken as an admission that some "dog lovers" regard this practice as acceptable? It seems bizarre to me that it happens at all: if showing dogs is about celebrating the health and vigour of animals, what does it matter if there's an occasional tuft of hair in the wrong place?

Whenever humans compete to win prizes, temptation will exist to use all available methods to win. What else could be going on in the pedigree dog show ring? Is that winning dog naturally so placid and well-behaved? Or could that sparkle in his eye be assisted by a little chemical tweaking? What other monsters are lurking beneath the smooth surface of the dog show world?